It Was Quiet in the Granger House
by gingersunlights
Summary: Hermione leaves her parents, and remembers her last day with them before it slips away. What awaits her now, she will go to see.
1. Goodbyes

It was quiet in the Granger house.

_"I cannot just let you run away, Hermione- look at me when I speak to you!"  
"What, mother, shall I just unpack my bags, then? Hmm? Shall I just leave them be, pretend everything's all right?"  
"It isn't your fight! You haven't any responsibility, for God's sake, you're only a child!"  
"I was a child."  
"Now, don't star-" but Hermione held up her hand, and her mother stopped what was sure to be a futile protest.  
"No, I was a child. When it all began, I was still wide eyed and hopeful. But I grew up, mother, I haven't been that little girl for quite some time now, and I do have a responsibility now. I cannot run away."  
"Run away."  
"Yes, run away."  
A heavy silence reigned the place between them now, and Jean wore upon her face a look of absolute defeat.  
And after a moment, "If only we had known."  
"Knowing doesn't matter now, mother, that time has gone."  
"Yes, I suppose it has."  
Another pause filled the air, and Hermione, exhausted from the yelling, took the opportunity to sit heavily on the sofa. It was grey suede, picked out rather carefully by her mother.  
Looking back up to Jean, who had stayed standing on the hardwood floor, Hermione said "sometimes, I think that time was never here."  
When Jean said nothing, Hermione continued.  
"I think, sometimes, that I never had a choice in all this. That it was always meant to be. When I look back, I can't think of a single moment past the first day on the Hogwarts Express in which I could have said my goodbyes. Even in those first, unpleasant months. We were always meant to be."  
Hermione put her head in her hands then, and drew a breath in resignation.  
"I wish that I'd had a chance, mum. I with that I'd had lovely, sunny days in the park with my friends, and I wish that my largest concern had always been my potions grade. I wish for so many things, I know I've got a list somewhere," She said with a dry laugh.  
Hermione lifted her head.  
"I feel unraveled."  
Jean Granger could see now, something she had hoped never to see in her pretty, autumn baby.  
There was pain in her daughter's eyes, and she couldn't make it go away. Not this time. No ice cream cones, no warm blankets.  
"I wish there were something I could do."  
"I know, mum."  
_

The next morning her father had returned, a grim expression upon his tired face. The three Grangers sat now in the grey- green living room at the centre of the house.

Hermione wore pink, denim, and finality, while mother and father wore fear on their very sleeves.

She would have invited Dumbledore to stand in the back of the room, or perhaps by the door, but she had wanted to say her goodbyes like this. Alone, in her childhood home.

"I'm leaving today," she said, breaking the silence.  
"Yes," said Jean.  
"I'll not write you. Please don't try to contact me, we'll be Untraceable."  
"Okay," said Matthew.  
"You understand that this may be the last time we see each other, so I've made arrangements with Dumbeldore to safeguard my things, should I never return. There are some things to be left to the Order when we're through."  
"Should you never return?" asked her mother.  
"Er- yes. There is every possibility that I will ah- not make it. As it happens, I am quite high on Voldemort's list, making me a high-priced target. It is very likely that I will not return home.  
"As such," She continued on, "I have made safe house arrangements for you."  
"What?" asked Jane, "We have to move?"  
"Well, yes, unless you'd like a lovely little midnight visit from the Dark Lord's goons."  
"Listen here, you can't just uproot us, Hermione, we've got jobs-"  
"Taken care of," said Hermione.  
"What do you mean?"  
"It takes less effort than one might think to disappear for a bit. Especially given that you've got the help of wizards. Three confundus charms, two obliviated secretaries, two new hires, and an all-expenses paid trip to Tahiti for the next three months, to start." Hermione ticked each off her fingers as she went.  
"You really thought of everything," said Matthew.  
Hermione looked out the window. The owl had arrived.  
Looking back to her parents, Hermione said "It's time."

Later, in the forest of Dean, Hermione remembered that final day with mum and dad. It seemed a lifetime ago, and she couldn't remember what her mother wore. Nor what her father's last words to her had been. Perhaps her old life was slipping away altogether. Perhaps it was kinder this way. No one to mourn in her final moments.

She looked over to the edge of the river, where Harry collected stones. They were meant for a makeshift fireplace, to roast whatever they could find.

Hermione could almost see her life as though she had already lived it, and if she had, this would be the moment she'd remember least. Nothing important, just a lull between fighting, another empty moment in their running. Today, though, right now, it was all she had. Harry Potter and his stupid shoes, digging through the snow for pebbles.


	2. To Godric's Hollow

"Harry!" she called, "We'll freeze if we stay our here much longer!"

"Just a moment, 'Mione, I've found better stones over here!" he called back.

Resigning herself to a few minutes more of bitter cold in search of stones for a fire pit, Hermione stood up, and stepped lightly over snow-covered grass until she reached him.

"What've you got, then?"

"Look, Hermione, they shine." Harry whispered, in apparent awe.

"Never seen the inside of a geode before, I take it." She said, crouching down next to him.

"Nah, Padma told me about them, like the use of amethyst in love potions, but I've never seen one up close. It's so pretty, 'Mione, I hate to use it."

"No harm, Harry, we'll make a lovely thing out of it, won't we?" she assured him. "Just imagine how it'll look with fire dancing over it."

"Yeah." Came his response. "I suppose."

A while later, when Harry and Hermione had finally constructed their fireplace, they sat just inside the door of their tent. It was cold outside, and neither had any interest in catching hypothermia for the sake of roast rabbit.

"What d'you think- eat, and leave just after?"

"I can't think of a reason to stay any longer." An awkward sort of pause followed Hermione's insistence, for Ron had yet to return.

"You've still got the rabbit under a stasis charm, haven't you?"

"Yeah, no worries, 'Mione."

"Right, no worries." She said, rubbing her temples. "No worries."

It was a while deciding where to go, but Hermione resolved, in the end, to take them to a Cliffside she had once known. When they had left, very finally, the two had taken with them the precious geode that Harry had so taken a liking to.

"I didn't want to leave it." Said Harry. "I think I've grown attached."

"It's alright, Harry, it wouldn't have been appreciated by anyone but the bugs if you had left it there, by the bank."

Taking it from him, and slipping the rock into her beaded bag, Hermione resolved to fashion it into some sort of keepsake for him, or perhaps keep it with her until the day came that Harry had a mantle upon which she could set it.  
She did hope to make it that far.

Seated in the tent together, researching the sword of Gryffindor, the two kept quiet. So quiet, in fact, that the slightest rustle from outside could be heard clear as day. It would later prove to be of immense luck that they studied in such silence.

Turning his head ever so slightly in Hermione's direction, Harry caught her eye. When she looked as though she might ask what was going on, he held a finger up to his lips in a gesture for silence.

Discretely, then, Harry pointed his finger to the flap of the tent.

It had moved.

There was no wind today, and surely the wind did not make a crunching noise, anyhow. Their stalker was not well practiced, and today, he would be caught.

Together, they stood, casting dillusionment charms upon themselves as they went. Harry to the flap, and Hermione to the gap on the other side of the tent.  
It had been ripped during their flight from the wedding, and Hermione had left it, just pressed together with magic, so it might serve as an escape route, should they need one.

Gently opening it up, she performed a modified version of_ levicorpus _on herself, and walked a few inches above the ground.

Harry, on the other side of the tent, opted for a less stealthy approach, running straight out as soon as he felt Hermione leave the space.

"Come and get me, you sneak!" He shouted.

Hearing nothing, he yelled again- "Come on out, dearie, don't you hide!"

This time, Harry heard a sudden noise behind him, and was nearly knocked on his face as their adversary rushed him.

Lunging forward, Harry got their man around the neck, and held tight, waiting for Hermione's inevitable body bind curse.

Sure enough, a firm "_petrificus totalus!_" was heard, and Hermione rematerialized before them.

Letting go, Harry said "Thanks, Hermione. He's a strong one, that's for sure. Fought me pretty hard."

"Who is he?"

"I dunno." Said Harry.

Turning him over, they saw the face of a dirty, ragged man. His clothes were tattered, and he wore purple over one eye.

"Looks like he was on the run." Said Hermione.

"Like us?"

"Yeah, I think so. He must have been starving, look how skinny he is. I don't think he wanted to hurt us, Harry, I think he was hungry."

_Out here, already, we see the effects of war. Will we ever escape?_

Seeing the disheveled state of their attacker, Harry softened a bit. One might say that he felt a pang in his chest for Remus, who wore similar robes.

"Alright, we apparate him to the nearest hospital, then? With a bit of money?"

"No, whoever he was running from will find him."

"You're not suggesting we keep him?"

"No, don't be silly, Harry, I just think we should take him to a church. Churches don't ask for social security numbers, and they certainly don't call your family. I think he'll be safe at the cathedral in Godric's Hollow."

"We're going to Godric's Hollow?"

"It would appear that way, yes." She said, closing her eyes, and placing a magical bind on the man's body.


End file.
